A Hero from Saint-Malo: Nicolas Beaugeard

Count of Bellevue

The Comte de Bellevue

Rennes, France 1904

Translated by Gena R. Chattin (GRC – her footnotes marked with these initials) Edited by Llewellyn M. Toulmin, Ph.D., FRGS, FRSA of Silver Spring, Maryland (LMT) fifth great-grand nephew of Nicolas Beaugeard)

FR. SIMON, RENNES

[PORTRAIT: In existence at the Chateau of Lemo]

AN LITTLE-KNOWN HERO FROM SAINT-MALO

NICOLAS-JOSEPH BEAUGEARD

Secretary of the Orders to Queen Marie-Antoinette and to Madame the Duchess of Angouême, Captain of the Royal Army of Brittany

1755 to 1817 [birth and death dates]

3 Count of Bellvue

A Hero from Saint-Malo

It was the morning of January 21, 1793. Louis XVI had been condemned to death. Already they were leading toward the guillotine the descendant of nearly forty kings who, for fourteen centuries were succeeded on the French throne and had made that nation so powerful, so glorious, and so prosperous. Would the French indifferently witness that assassination and allow the best of men and the most paternal of kings to be bled white? Several loyal royalists resolved an attempt to prevent this crime and to tear the innocent victim away from his executioners.

It was a gentleman, originating from Gascogne and then aged 33 years, the famous baron of Batz, who installed himself at the head of the movement. Along with his secretary, Jean-Louis Michel Devaux, the marquis of La Guiche, called “Sévignon”, Hyde de Neuville, the count of Allonville, and MM. De la Lézardière and Beaugeard, he orchestrated a plot with the intent to rescue the martyred king at gunpoint while he was being taken from the prison of the Temple to the scaffold. “The attack on the escort had to take place on the boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, at the corner of the Rue de la Lune, and at the top of the Porte Saint-Denis; the number of streets opening into that area allowed the assailants to gather without being overly noticeable. “Four or five hundred intrepid royalists joyfully promised their help, but the extraordinary security and police measures taken by the Convention for the execution of the king were followed with such precision that only a few of the conspirators were able to meet at the point of the rendezvous. “In fact, from the crack of dawn on Monday, January 21, 1793, Paris was in a state of siege: all the streets meeting those that the ghastly procession would take were blocked and guarded militarily. All citizens were forbidden to appear in doors or windows or to be on the path of the condemned. All cries and demonstrations were forbidden under penalty of death. From the Temple to the boulevard, the street was adorned with more than ten thousand armed men, and each side of the boulevard was lined by a quadruple row of eighty thousand soldiers. Some canons were marched in front of the procession, which was made up of between twelve and fifteen thousand armed men. In front of the cart, where the king was chained, the clamor of a multitude of drums and trumpets rang out. Behind the car, surrounded by gendarmes on foot and on horseback, came yet more cannons. “At the moment when the cart arrived at the top of the port Saint-Denis, three young men and an older man with a sword in hand, opened a passage through the quadruple row of soldiers along the street and bolted toward the royal victim, crying loudly over and over, ‘To us who would save the king!’

4 “Profiting from the stupor and the momentary disarray caused by their audacious attempt, the four heroes managed to slip into the crowd and get away by the neighboring streets. Only one of them was seized when he entered a house on the Rue de Cléry and sliced by swords on the steps of the church Notre Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle. The three others escaped successfully1.” Only two of the names of these four valiant royalists were preserved by history: those of the Baron of Batz and of Michel Devaux2; and we just claimed the honor for M. Beaugeard of having been the one who was “sliced by swords on the steps of the church of Notre Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle.” The glorious part M. Beaugeard took in that heroic attempt had not been revealed by any historian until recent times3: but this M. Beaugeard was Breton, Breton from Saint-Malo, and we have the duty to render all due honor to this valiant compatriot and to add a new halo to those of his family, of his native town, and of our Brittany. We are going to give all the details that we were able to gather on the family and life of this Breton hero, up until now too poorly known. The Beaugeard family was native to Saint-Malo, where it can be found as far back as the 15th century, and where it produced a great number of merchants and shipowners. It was linked to the Le Bretons toward 1540; Jalobert in 1563 and 1568; Girard in 1572; Maingard in 1576; Béchard toward 1595; Porée in 1600; Rouxel toward 1720; Fournier de Varennes toward 1740; Morin toward 1744; Avice in 1750; le Det de Segray [sic] in 1767; le Douarain de Lemo in 1771; le Provost de la Voltais in 1773; d’Hugues de Cessellès in 1780. It was ennobled in 1777 and received for arms: “red with a silver chevron, accompanied by twelve Ermine-spots in golden counter-ermine [NOTE: Explanation of ermine patterns can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermine_%28heraldry%29 - GRC] arranged in groups of four in the form of three crosses.” We also find that, since the 17th century, in the lands of Vitré and of Fougères, the Beaugeards, who belonged, we believe, to another family, and had the arms “gold with a sand-colored prancing stag” [NOTE – not positive on sand-colored, would have to see the coat of arms to be sure].

1 See: Dernières heures de Louis XVI, roi de France, written by the abbey Edgeworth de Fermont, his confessor, the day of the execution of the king, and published after Journal de Cléry, p. 123. – Les Défenseurs de Louis XVI, by Ed. Biré, p. 173 and following – Le baron de Batz, by G. le Notre, p. 6 and following; p. 279 and following; from which we have extracted in part the preceding lines – Les Archives nationals, w. 389, dossier 904. 2 Devaux was arrested June 2, 1794, and guillotined at Paris the following June 17. As for the Baron de Batz, we know his fate, so extraordinary that it was nearly romantic: Knight of Saint Louis in 1814, field marshal in 1815, he died in Le Puy-de-Dôme in 1822. 3 The first, M. Ed. Prampain, indicated M. Beaugeard’s act of devotion in his Saint-Malo historique published at Amiens in 1902 (p. 251). Since, the attention of the Malouins was attracted to the face of their heroic compatriot. In the meeting of September 26, 1903, M. E. Herpin, president of the historical and archaeological society of Saint-Malo, contributed some information on M. Beaugeard, who he rightly called “an unknown Malouin,” and that information brought about a letter from M. Fichet, in which that great-newphew of M. Beaugeard rectified certain information given by M. Herpin. That letter appeared in Le Salut of November 10, 1903, at the same time as a response from the distinguished president of the archaeological society of Saint-Malo, which recognized the validity of M. Fichet’s observations – A five- page article, signed by M. E. Herpin and concerning Beaugeard’s heroic act, also appeared in the November 1903 L’Hermine.

Nicolas-Joseph BEAUGEARD was born in Saint-Malo and was baptized in that town on April 18, 1755. He was the only son of Pierre-Marin Beaugeard, rich shipowner of Saint-Malo, secretary counsel of the king, elected Treasurer of the States of Britany in 1776 (and was the last), ennobled and named knight of the order of Saint-Michel, on the request of the States in November 1777, died in 1792 at the home of his daughter, Mme. le Provost de la Voltais, at the chateau de la Voltais in Monteneuf, and of Marguerite- Joséphine Avice, deceased at Saint-Malo on February 1, 1784. Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard had as sisters Mme le Det de Segray [sic], le Dourain de Lemo, and le Provost de la Voltais1. In accordance with his father’s wishes, in 1780 he bought a post as secretary of the orders of the queen Marie-Antoinette in return for 200,000 francs, and he married Marie-Jeanne-Catherine d’Hugues de Cesselès at Paris in July 1780. She was the daughter of Jean-Antoine-Guillaume d’Hugues, who owned an important sugar refinery called Cesselès on the isle of Saint-Domingue in the parish of la Croix des Bouquets, jurisdiction of Port-au-Prince. She had as a sister Mme de Luppé. The d’Hugues family, native to Provence, had for arms: “Azure with a golden lion [NOTE: uncertain how to translate part of this, the language is strange and may be proprietary to heraldry, I am not sure - GRC] below three golden stars […??? – GRC]1.” Mme Beaugeard née d’Hugues was pretty and coquettish. She dilapidated her fortune and that of her husband, to who she only gave a daughter, Aglae-Marie Beaugeard, born in Paris in 1782, died unmarried at the chateau of La Voltais in September 1818. Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard filled the functions of secretary of the queen alternatively with M. Augeard2. Augeard served her during the odd-numbered years, Beaugeard during the evens. M. Beaugeard lived in Paris, rue Richelieu, in 1784 and 1786; and in 1790, rue de Ménars, no. 5, at the home of his father, in a hotel that his father had rented for nine years, since July 1, 1785, for 12,000 livres per year from M. Claude-Antoine-Gabriel de Choiseul de Stainville, husband of Marie Stéphanie de Choiseul de Stainville. Mme Nicolas Beaugeard, separated from her husband since 1785, had gone to England, where she lived in London, Adam Street, no. 23, Manchester Square, in 1790 and 1825. She died in Paris, 91, rue du Bac, on October 28, 1843, at 83 years of age.

1 See the biography and the descendants of Pierre-Marin Beaugeard in the appendix. 1 (p. 9 – GRC) The d’Hugues family is still represented by: the marquis d’Hugues at Grenoble; the count d’Hugues, deputy; and M. Léonce d’Hugues in the Vaucluse. – The sister of Catherine d’Hugues married Beaugeard, Pétra d’Hugues de Cesselès married Henri-Pierre-Marie, count of Luppé, lord of La Motte, of Bonnefons, officer in the royal corps of gendarmes, born at Versailles on March 29, 1769, died returning from Martinique circa 1799. He only had a daughter, Cosntance de Luppé, deceased at Paris unmarried in January 1817. The countess Henri de Luppé also died at Paris on February 14, 1820. Her husband was son of Pierre, knight, count of Luppé and of Falaise, in Normandy, lord of Castillon, of La Motte, captain of the regiment of Brittany in 1744, aide-marshall-general-of-lodging of the army in 1756, colonel of the regiment of Royal Cantabres in 1757, brigadier of the armies of the king, knight of Saint-Louis, deceased in Paris in 1770 2 This M. Augeard (Jacques-Mathiew), born at Bordeaux in 1731, was farmer genera, then from 1775 to 1790 secretary of the orders of the queen. He died at Paris on March 30, 1805, and left behind Mémoires published in 1866.

6 At the end of 1790, Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard lost his place as secretary to the queen. Reduced to the most extreme poverty as a result of the extravagances of his wife and of his father’s total ruin, he nonetheless continues to risk his life for the royal family. After the day of April 10, 1792, during which he must have attended the invasion of the Tuileries with the national guards of the section of the Filles Saint-Thomas and escorted with his batallion the king and the royal family to the National Assembly1, he was going to stay near the Temple so he could more easily come to the aid of the august prisoners. He one one of the first to enter into the plot hatched by the baron of Batz to save the king on the morning of January 21, 1793, and he was one of the four intrepid royalists who attempted to deliver him. That’s him, “the unknown of whom speak the historians, who seized, at the time when, after having vainly tried to save the king, he was going to enter a house on the rue de Cléry, was sliced by swords on the steps of the church of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle.” “Here is the article on the heroic act of M. Beaugeard, which appeared, ten years after his death, in the La Quotidienne issue for January 21, 1828, under the signature of Count de P….t [sic]:

“To Monsieur the Editor of La Quotidienne.

“Monsieur,

“The anniversary of January 21 is, for me, a time of immense grief, not because by imitating a famous poet I can act as if I still had the fever of the eve of that commemoration, but because, as a faithful subject and fair-minded admirer of Louis XVI’s virtues, I can’t think of his torture without shedding abundant tears. “However, despite the most painful memory, I search these stories of this frightful time for something that will further feed my sadness, and I consult the newspapers, the brochures, the memoirs, the biographies, that paint that horrifying scene in the greatest detail. “Certainly the story has its facts, but they are not all recounted here. One is too honorable for the memory of its author, too painful, I would say almost too heroic, and in order to make up for the silence of writers, I asking you to record it in your royalist paper. “The procession that led the victim had already arrived at the place Louis XV. A glum stupor reigned amongst the assembled people when all of a sudden a voice was heard crying, “If a hundred brave men join me, the innocent could be saved!” The voice was that of the chevalier Beaugeard, secretary of the orders of Marie-Antoinette, and already other voices had responded when a group of Jacobins surrounded the faithful chevalier, seized him, took him far away, and left him dying on the cobblestones. “That proof of devotion is too beautiful to leave forgotten, and although M. Beaugeard has died, I believe it will please all the friends of the throne to record it in the newspaper which ordinarily best expresses the sentiments that animate them.

1 We read, in fact, in a letter that M. Beaugeard’s brother-in-law M. le Douarain de Lemo, who lived then in Paris, wrote dated August 13, 1792, to his other brother-in-law, M. de la Voltais: “I didn’t give you our news by the last messenger. I wasn’t calm. I worried for my brother-in-law, who was with the National Guard of his section and who only sent us news Saturday morning. His batallion escored the king and his family to the National Assembly” (arch. of La Voltais).

7 THE COMTE DE P…..T.1”

This article provoked a letter of gratitude from the widow of M. Beaugeard and a supplementary brochure, entitled L’héroisme d’un Français en 1793. The letter from Mme Beaugeard appeared in the January 23, 1828 issue of La Quotidienne: “Madame the widow Beaugeard, née d’Hugues de Cesselès, widow of Monsieur Beaugeard, secretary of the orders of the queen Marie-Antoinette, not having the honor of knowing Monsieur the count of P…..t, we beg of him to witness all his recollections for the publicity that he really wanted to give to the heroic character of the late Monsieur Beaugeard in our January 21 paper, character even more memorable since, absolutely without thought of his own self-interest, he risked certain death to save the days of his king.1” And here is what we read in l’Héroisme d’un Francais en 17932:

[ NOTE: I omit here the passage from the fourth paragraph on page 12 through the break near the top of page 15 because this is a long excerpt from The Heroism of a Frenchman in 1793 (l’Héroisme d’un Francais en 1793) which I have already translated.]

As we have said, and as it is eloquently told in this brochure, Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard, as a result of his heroic effort, had been seized by the populace in the Rue de Cléry, led to the steps of the church of Notre-Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle, sliced by the swords of the maniacs, and left dying on the cobblestones. The gendarmes of the escort took hold of him and took him to the section of the Place Vendôme from which he was transferred to the Conciergerie. After having attempted to let him die of starvation, fearing news of his devoted act for the martyr king would get out, they passed him off as a lunatic. Then they released him with the “order to leave Paris as a former officer of the queen1.” Barely out of prison, he took gravely ill and was bedridden for a long time. This put him in the most entire poverty. He continued to live sometimes at Paris, sometimes in the home of one of his relations, Mme de Cubières, at Rue in the Somme. Then, near the end of 1802, he went with his daughter to take refuge in Brittany, where he was taken in, sometimes in the chateau of Lemo, sometimes at the chateau of La Voltais, near Ploermel, by his sisters, Mmes le Douarain of Lemo and le Provost of La Voltais. During the first Restoration, he was named secretary of the orders of HRH Mme la duchess of Angoulème on January 1, 1815, as is proved by this item in the Monileur of January 1, 1815: “HRH Mme duchess of Angoulème has composed her staff as follows: … secretaries of orders: M. Charlet and M. Beaugeard.” Shortly after, after March 1815, King Louis XVIII and the royal family were exiled. M. Beaugeard, still faithful to his king, solicited admission in the royal army of Brittany.

1 (p. 11 – GRC) La Quotidienne of January 21, 1828 (National library, Lc 2 728). 1 (p. 12 – GRC) La Quotidienne of January 23, 1828. 2 L’héroisme d’un Français en 1793, brochure in-8o of 8 p., printer of Huzard-Courcier, Rue du Jardinet, No. 12 (National library, Lo. 27, 1268). 1 (p. 15 – GRC) Decree of expulsion of the month of September 1793 (archives of La Voltais)

8 On June 1, 1815, he was named a captain in the royal army of Brittany by the marquis de la Boissière, field marshal of the king’s armies, in this letter:

Ploermel, June 1, 1815.

“The Marquis de la Boissière, Field Marshal of the King’s Armies, second commander of the royal armies of Brittany, to M. Beaugeard, former counselor of the State and secretary of orders of the late Her Majesty the Queen Marie- Antoinette

Monsieur,

“I am informed that you are worthy of the rank of captain in the royal army of Brittany; the army values this and will count you among its own, and never have I been so honored by the powers that Her Majesty has disdained to grant me as when they gave me the capability to honor someone whose devotion is the most beautiful example that one can offer to all the royalists. “I have the honor to be, with respect,

Your very humble servant.

Field Marshal, M. de la Boissière. »

This letter was accompanied by the following certificate :

“ROYAL ARMY OF BRITTANY

“IN THE NAME OF THE KING

“We, Field Marshal, Chief of Headquarters of the royal armies, Commissioner extraordinaire of the king, deputy for the department of Brittany, in the absence of monsieur the count of Marigny, Lieutenant general, grand-cross of the Royal military Order of Saint-Louis, first Commissioner extraordinaire of the king; “Taking in consideration the value, the good conduct, and the devotion to the king of M. Beaugeard, secretary of orders of HRH Madame duchess of Angoulème, notably the heroic courage that he displayed in presenting himself, alone, sword in hand, before the troops that led Louis XVI to the guillotine, and calling them to second him in tearing the king from his executioners, ADMIRABLE TRAIT WHOSE EQUIVALENT NO OTHER FRENCHMAN CAN OFFER, and that renders M. Beaugeard the object of a just respect on the part of all royalists; we have named him captain attached to the general headquarters, with the capacity to execute all the functions of that post in all of Brittany. “We order all militaries authorities to recognize him in the aforementioned quality.

9 M. de la Boissière. »

The king and the royal family having returned to France after the Hundred Days, in July 1815, M. Beaugeard returned to Paris and was called, at the end of 1815, to fill the function of secretary to the duchess of Angoulème, to which he had been nominated on January 1, 1815. At the start of 1816, the duchess offered him an almanac of the court, bound in red leather with his coat of arms in gold, and on February 10, she gave him a superb engraving representing the queen Marie-Antoinette pressed onto an urn from which came a lily and some roses in recognition of his services and his devotion. That engraving, with its original setting, is at the chateau of La Voltais. On the back we read: Given by HRG Madame, duchess of Angoulème, to M. Beaugeard, secretary of her orders and of her finances and house. At Tuileries, February 10, 1816.” Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard succumbed the following year, expiring prematurely from his wounds, his illnesses, and his sacrifices. He died at Paris at the start of January 1818, and nothing was written on his tomb but his first and last name and the date of his death. His death was thus announced in Le Moniteur of January 28, 1818, (p. 129): “M. Beaugeard, one of the secretaries of the orders of HRH Madame, duchess of Angoulème, and former secretary of the orders of HRH the queen Marie-Antoinette, just succumbed to a long and painful illness. His virtues and his likeable qualities cause all those who knew him to mourn his passing.” The portrait of M. Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard is at the chateau of Lemo, in Augan, property to his great grand nephew, the count of La Villirouet, great-grandson of M. le Douarain de Lemo and of Nicole Beaugeard. It is a pastel in an oval frame of about 0m 75 high by 0m 60 wide. The bust of M. Beaugeard is represented here, still young (18 to 30 years). He is clothed in an elegant royal blue suit with a lace frill; blond hair, curled, powdered, and braided in back; blue eyes; face shaven; intelligent and kind face; he holds in his hand part of a violin. After M. Beaugeard’s death, his only daughter Mlle Aglaé-Marie Beaugeard, born in Paris in 1782, and who had never left her father, came back to La Voltais, where on January 28, 1818, she received a life annuity from the duchess of Angoulème in the sum of 2,000 francs “as a mark of the benevolence and wonting to recognize in the person of Mlle Beaugeard the good and faithful service rendered to HRH the queen of France, the mother of Madame, as well as to Her Royal Highness, by her late father, M. Beaugeard, secretary of her orders.1” Aglaé Beaugeard died, at the age of 36 years, in the chateau of La Voltais, in September 1818. She possessed no fortune, and the sale of her furnishings and effects, which occurred on February 17, 1819, amounted to only 535 francs 80. They consisted of: a miniature portrait of the late M. Beaugeard, father of the deceased, and an other portrait of the same, auctioned to M. Ferdinand of La Voltais, one for one franc, the other for two francs.

1 This certificate on parchment exists in the archives of the chateau of La Voltais.

10 Many letters from M. Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard and from his daughter exist at the chateau of La Voltais. We will give several excerpts2: M. Beaugeard wrote from Paris to his brother-in-law, M. de la Voltais, on July 26, 1792: “You ask me, my dear friend, to come closer to you. I would like that very much, but whether it may be necessary to remain at Paris or maybe spend some time in America to attempt to reestablish my business dealings which are in very bad shape. If the queen does not continue my salary, I don’t know what will become of me, but I haven’t yet lost all courage…” In another letter of November 9, 1802, from Rue (in the Somme, country home of M. and Mme. de Cubières and of their children), and addressed to his sister, Mme de la Voltais, Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard returns to the question of his interests in Saint- Domingue: “A few days ago I had a long meeting with Bigot and his wife3. They made me promise to come to Saint-Domingue without proxy, neither that of my sister-in-law (Mme de Luppé, née Hugues de Cesselès, who only had one daughter, Constance, who died unmarried in Paris in January 1817) or of M. de Cesselès (his father-in-law), but only with my marriage contract, and to put my holdings to work there1. I posed two objections: the first, to abandon my daughter; the second: the impossibility of undertaking such a voyage without money and with no means. “He responded that my daughter could stay with my sisters and that, if I decided to pass by Saint-Domingue, the minister of the navy would give me ample facilities because the government wanted the owners to look over their goods…Be sure, my dear friend, that I do justice to the motives that drive you so intensely to divert me from this enterprise; but if I don’t go to them, my daughter’s fortune will be completely destroyed and without hope. In addition, Bigot removes all my hope of obtaining a position…” In December 1815, M. Beaugeard and his daughter returned to Paris, and Aglaé wrote to La Voltais on December 6, “I’ve had the pleasure to see our princes. Mme de Cubières had the goodness to take me to the hall where they almost touched us in passing… If I had been in the chapel, like Mme. de Cubières had promised me, I would have seen them at my leisure, but that will have to wait…” We also read in another letter from Aglaé Beaugeard to her cousin, Mlle Thérèse de la Voltais: “Paris, January 16, 1816. My papa received a small almanac in the hand of

2 We owe the transmission of these letters and of much information concerning M. Beaugeard and his family to the extreme helpfulness of the viscount Paul du Pontavice, uncle of the countess of La Voltais; we again declare to him all our recognition. 3 Bigot de Préameneu (Félix-Julien-Jean), born at Rennes in 1747, lawyer in Parliament, deputy to the Assemblé Législative at Paris on September 5, 1791; returned to Rennes in 1793, he was arrested there as a suspect on February 4, 1794 and incarcerated in Paris, released on 9 Thermidor, he became Procureur to the Court of Cassation in 1799, State Counselor in 1801, Minister of Religion and Count of the Empire in 1808, Peer of France in 1815, Academic in 1816, he died in Paris in 1825. Mme de la Voltais wrote on May 12, 1801 that her brother had the highest confidence in M. Bigot de Préameneu, and M. Chardet, M. Beaugeard’s businessman, wrote the same on April 20, 1804 to Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard: “M. Bigot, your friend, could easily place you in the [régie des nouveaux droits] (French business terminology – not entirely sure – GRC) : what do you write to him?…” 1 (p. 20) (quite a bit of business/legal jargon here – difficult for me to translate – GRC) M. d’Hugues de Cessèles, father of Mme Beaugeard, had in Saint-Domingue in the parish of La Croix des Bouquets, an important sugar refinery, called Cesselès. Mme. Vve Beaugeard, née d’Hugues, was understood for that property in 1831 in the indemnities proposed for the former colonists of Saint-Domingue (National library 4.541, 158.)

11 Madame: it is simply in red leather with his arms in gold: it is (the donation given of) the hand of Madame that makes the price. He has been really unwell for several days. Currently he feels better. The other day he went to pay his respects to Mgr the duke of Angoulème, who told him while taking his hand, that it was a relief to see him. I am thrilled that he is well regarded by the princes. He deserves it, and his work will seem tiresome to him.” In two other letters, a person is mentioned who is completely unknown to us: “Paris, January 5, 1816….. “I think that I spoke to you of Mlle de Mascle, of Faouet, that my cousin Joson (Joseph le Douarain de Lemo) knew. She came everyday to see me. During each visit she spends an infinity and would always speak very respectfully. She doesn’t work, and that really makes me angry…..” (Letter from Aglaé to La Voltais). “Paris, February 12, 1816….. The Joan of Arc of Lower Brittany, Mlle Mascle (who has obtained on the recommendation of Madame a tobacco warehouse in her country) will deliver my letters to you when she passes by Ploermel.” (Letter from M. Beaugeard to La Voltais). Who was this young woman “de Mascle, of Faouet, called ‘the Joan of Arc of Lower Brittany.” – Still probably an unknown Breton heroine! “Paris, December 21, 1816. – the de Cubières ladies speak often of the desire they have to spend a month or two in Brittany…..” (Letter from Aglaé to Thérèse de la Voltais). « Paris, December 28. Papa got really sick….. We are at the home of Mme de Cubières: we were so bad-off at the hotel, decorated and so far from all help…..” (Letter from Aglaé to Thérèse de la Voltais). Finally Mme and M. de Cubières wrote from Paris, January 30, 1818, to her niece, Aglaé Beaugeard, at La Voltais: “I looked after your small affairs last week: the sale of your virtuous father’s effects took place the 21st of this month; the profit of that sale amounted to, I believe, the sum of 900 francs. I only withdrew a few items from the sale; among others the portraits of our poor friend. Mme Beaugeard sent after her own, which we gave to the person sent to come get it….. We have also, my dear little one, placed a stone on the grave of your father with no other inscription except the names and the date….. I believe I must advise you to pay for this small monument yourself in case Madame would like to take responsibility for that expense, I would say to M. Th. Charlet (the Duchess’s secretary) that such is your will….. You are very fortunate to be in your Brittany…..” As we see, none of these letters make any mention of the heroic role played on January 21, 1793 by Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard, and some people are astonished by it. But most of these letters are only business letters, and we must remember that his eulogizer tells us, in his brochure of 1828, that, like all the true great men, Beaugeard was humble, “as modest as he was brave, he never spoke of himself, and he never wanted to call attention to his glorious devotion to the king, who was ignorant of it.” Let us add, according these personal memories, that most of the people who had survived the Revolution didn’t like to talk of that terrible era. They were subjected to such anguish, such suffering, such moral and physical tortures. They had seen flow so much blood and so many tears that they shut out these memories as much as possible as though frightful nightmares. They had done all their duty, and that thought was to them an intimate

12 satisfaction, but they didn’t draw vanity from it, and, according to a famous quotation, “as recompense for their beautiful actions, they only wanted the honor of having done them.” It is up to us, the descendents and the compatriots of these heroes, to shed light on their glorious actions and to vindicate for their memory the honors that they shunned while living. Already, in 1888, M. Fichet, also the great-grand nephew of Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard, asked the municipality of Saint-Malo to grant the name “Beaugeard” to one of the streets of his native city, affirming that the heroic act of Beaugeard on January 21, 1793 was more merit-worthy than those accomplished by many Malouins that have already received the same honor. All the descendants of M. Beaugeard, and I would dare say all the Bretons, share with M. Fichet that very legitimate question: Brittany is still the classical land of memory, and it is never too late to pay backward the glory. Also we hope that the town of Saint-Malo, having learned to better understand a new act of heroism of one if its children, will hold to the honor and the duty to attach this new flower to his crown, already so rich and so beautiful, and to put Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard in the long hall of famous Malouins who, hero of faithfulness and devotion, merits his glorious place near these valiant corsairs, intrepid seamen, famous warriors, celebrated authors; finally in the midst of all the great men of whom so justly boast the old city of Saint-Malo. Above the granite belt of its proud ramparts flies the crown of his glory, and that crown will never shine too much.

13 APPENDIX

Biography and descendants of Pierre-Marin BEAUGEARD, Father of Nicolas-Joseph BEAUGEARD

PIERRE BEAUGEARD, merchant and shipowner at Saint-Malo and grandfather of Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard, married near 1715 Nicole Rouxel, and died in 1746, having had:

1. PIERRE-JEAN BEAUGEARD, counselor to the Conseil supérieur du Cap, on the isle of Saint-Domingue, who married in that colony toward 1740 Marthe de Fournier de Varennes, daughter of Jean IX de Fournier, lord of Varennes and of Bellevue, counselor to the Conseil supérieur du Cap, lieutenant-colonel of the cavalry of the militia of Saint-Domingue, and of Marie-Thérèse le Febvre. Pierre- Jean Beaugeard was witness at Saint-Domingue in 1763 of the marriage of his cousin, René-Pascal de Fournier, count of Bellevue, with Elisabeth David de Lastour; He doesn’t seem to have had posterity. His wife, Marthe de Forunier de Varennes, was the sister of Pierre, count of Bellevue, my great-great-grandfather;

2. PIERRE MARIN, who follows:

3. JEANNE-FRANCOISE BEAUGEARD, who married toward 1744 with René Morin, with whom she had: 1. Marie-Jeanne Morin, died in 1769, without posterity of Louis-Blaise de Maisonneuve, who she had married at Saint-Servan in 1766, and who married again, toward 1771, to Marie-Catherine Fichet des Grèves, with whom he had ten children, among others: Louise-Blaise de Maisonneuve, born in 1781, who married at Saint-Malo in 1800, Jean de Fournier, count of Bellevue, my grandfather, and Marie-Catherine-Blaise de Maisonneuve, who married in 1801 Robert Surcouf, the famous corsair; 2. Jeanne-Nicole-Lousie morin, who married at Saint Servan in 1771, joseph Fichet des Grèves, grandfather of M. Fichet, currently director of the ferries of Dinard.

4. FRANCOISE BEAUGEARD, married in 1771 to Nicolas Chénard de la Giraudais, famous Malouin navagator; she was widowed in 1787, and mother of François-Sylvestre Chénard.

PIERRE-MARIN BEAUGEARD, shipowner at Saint-Malo, secretary of the king, treasurer of the states of Brittany, knight of Saint-Michel; lord of La Salmonais, of La Villebesno, in Saint-Servan: of La Barre, in Paramé. Born in Saint-Servan in 1727, for several months he was the king’s secretary counselor at the Cour des Aides of Clermont-Ferrand. Then, at the death of his father in 1746, he returned to Saint-Malo where he continued his dealings as a shipowner and where on April 26, 1750, he married Marguerite-Josephine Avice, born at Saint-Malo on October 10, 1722, daughet of Jean avice, lord of La Croix, deceased in 1744, and of Jeanne Guérif. She died at La Barre in Paramé on February 1, 1784.

14 M. Beaugeard was very rich and possessed, among others, a hotel in Saint-Malo called “Hotel Beaugeard” and situated in front of the port of Dinan and beside that of the Blaize. The hotel was bought in 1801 by the famous corsair, Robert Surcouf. During the Seven Years War (1756 to 1763), he race fitted seven vessels of six to twenty two cannons including the Emmanuel d’Aiguillon and the Saint-Florentin, and, in peacetime, he fitted thirteen merchant ships: four in 1769, four in 1772, and five in 1774, including the Duc de Duras, the Duc de Penthièvre, the Duc de Caslries, the Duc de Luynes, the Maréchal de Broglie, the Beaumont, the Sainte-Anne, and the Fitz-James1. During the grain shortage, which occurred in 1770, he didn’t hesitate to sacrifice part of his fortune to comfort his compatriots’ suffering, and, at the same time as MM. Blaize de Maisonneuve and Robert de la Mennais, other rich Saint-Malo shipowners, he brought several loads of wheat (more than fifteen thousand hectoliters) at his own expense, which were distributed almost freely to all the impoverished. In recompense, MM. Beaugeard, Blaize de Maisonneuve, and Robert de la Mennais were recommended for ennoblement. Letters were accorded in 1777 to M. Beaugeard and in 1785 to M. Robert de la Mennais, but M. Blaize refused, “declaring that all the bourgeois of Saint-Malo were ennobled by King Henri IV.” Thanks to the support of the Count Desgrées du Lou2 and the "bastionnaires," M. Beaugeard was elected treasurer general of the States of Brittany on October 30, 1776 after having had to pay a security of nearly two million livres. He occupied the post until the revolution and had three offices, another at Nantes, and the last in Paris. At the demand of the States of Brittany, and in consideration of the services that he had rendered during the food shortage of 1770, and of his high position, he was named knight of the order of Saint-Michel on September 23, 1775, and he received letters of ennoblement dated in the month of November 17773. After the dissolution of the States, at the end of 1789, M. Beaugeard had to leave his post as treasurer general and had as successor for several months one of his former clerks, Louis Guyard, who was named treasurer on June 22, 1790. Due to the general chaos and of the emigration of many Breton gentlemen to whom he had loaned considerable sums, M. Beaugeard found himself in an embarrassing financial situation. Having suffered a softening of the brain, at the beginning of January 1790, his children obtained an act of prohibition on February 25, 17901 (p. 28). His hotel in

1 The Fitz-James was the biggest ship to come out of the factories of Saint-Malo. It had a 1500 barrel capacity. In memory of its construction, the carpenters constructed a wooden cross that is still called “The Beaugeard Cross (La Croix Beaugeard)” at the crossroads of the routes of Troctin and of La Flourie (Saint- Malo historique, by E. Prampain, p. 25). 2 See: "The Count Desgrées du Lou, president of the nobility of the States of Brittany of 1768 and of 1772," by the Count of Bellevue, (Vannes, Lafoyle, 1903). 3 This certificate and these letters of ennoblement, with the attribution of the coats of arms, are at the archives of the chateau of La Voltais. 1 (p. 28) This act of prohibition (acte d'interdiction) is at the archives of the chateau of Lemo, in Augan. It is signed by "J.-M. le Douarain, Nicolas Beaugeard, Joseph-François-Marie le Provost de la Voltais, Isaïe le Det de Segray, Nicole-Guillemette Beaugeard (children and sons-in-law); Nicolas-Pierre-Toussaint Olive (his nephew); act certified by: Pierre le Moine, treasurer general for supplies, residing at Saint-Servan, François-Sylvestre Chénard (from La Giroudais), captain of merchant vessels; Pierre-Marie le Page de Boisvallon; Joseph Fichet, shipowner; François-Marie-Félix Avril; Joseph-Marie Goret du Grand-Vivier; Louis le Det de Segray (relations or allies of M. Pierre-Marie Beaugeard). This act of prohibition was

15 Paris (rue de Ménars, 5, Saint-Roch parish) was sealed on April 9, and a liquidation inventory proceeded from July 15 to August 14. It comprised: 1.) the furnishings and titles to the hotel on the Rue de Ménars, where M. Beaugeard had his offices: that three- floor hotel with courtyard, garden(yard? –GRC), archway, stables, and sheds, three drawing rooms, 17 bedrooms with bathrooms, was rented at 12,000 livres per year. It contained a beautiful library, paintings, and pieces of art, beautiful silverware estimated at 25,000 livres. There were six coach horses in the stables, and in the sheds there were two cars with four wheels, four springs, and four windows, and a large cart; 2.) a furnished country house with sheds and stables, garden, and park, situated in the village of Antony-Verrières, at ten kilometers to the south of Paris, and that had been bought on May 23, 1783, by M. Beaugeard from François-René Molé, for the price of 67,000 livres; 3.) the noble manor of La Villesnault, near Rennes. Commited to a nursing home in Paris on January 8, 1791, he was out the following February 23, and in April he was taken in by the youngest of his daughters, Mme le Provost de la Voltais, at the chateau of La Voltais in Monteneuf (Morbihan). It was there that he died on June 16, 1792, leaving behind much debt that his heirs would not accept except for the profit of his inventory. One of his sons-in-law, M. le Douarain de Lemo, wrote on September 16, 1793, from Paris, where he had taken refuge, to his cousin, the count Desgrées du Lou, "I am truly unhappy. My wife won't have any of her father's fortune. My children will be truly poor, but they will be honest and good citizens. That will be their riches." The portrait of Pierre-Maris Beaugeard painted in 1777 exists at the chateau of La Voltais, and at Saint-Servan, in the Le Page family, along with that of Mme. Chénard de la Giraudais, née Beaugeard. Two of his daughters, Mesdames le Douarain de Lemo and le Det de Segray, are at the chateau of Lemo, in Augan, with that of his son, Nicolas Beaugeard; the portrait of his last daughter, Mme le Provost de la Voltais, is at the chateau of La Voltais. Pierre-Maris Beaugeard had eight children with Mlle Avice: [ed. note: only six children, not eight, are listed below and in the original manuscript]

1.) Jeanne-Marie-Mélanie Beaugeard, baptized at Saint-Malo on May 23, 1751, who married there on March 3, 1767, to Isaie-Louis le Det, squire, lord of Segray, shipowner at Saint-Malo, where she died December 3, 1784. Her husband emigrated in 1791 to London where he resided with two of his daughters on July 7, 1792. He had: 1.) Marguerite-Marie; 2.) René-Pierre le Det de Segray, baptized at Paramé on July 16, 1775, who lived at Paris in the home of the Cubières in 1815; 3.) Joseph-Marie 4.) Marc-Antoine le Det de Segray, baptized at Saint-Malo on November 16, 1778, living in London with his father in 1792; 5.) Emmanuel-Marie.

2.) Marie-Perrine-Marguerite-Nicole Beaugeard, baptized at Saint-Malo on August 30, 1752. On June 22, 1769 in Saint-Malo, she married Mathurin Boschat, lord of registered at the Présidial (a court of justice – GRC) of Rennes on June 7, 1790; It was his son-in-law, M. le Dourain de Lemo, who was named his trustee.

16 Vaugaillard, bourgeois of Saint-Malo, ennobled in 1768 (Boschat: "from sand to the cat passing ermines"). He died without progeny at Saint-Malo on January 26, 1770, and his widow married there on July 22, 1771 to Jean-Marie le Douarain de Lemo, knight, chief of names and of arms, lord of Lemo, in Augan, former page of the king, under-lieutenant in the regiment of Bourbon-Infantry, born at the chateau of Lemo on November 20, 1748, son of Joseph-Jean-François, knight, lord of Lemo, and of Françoise-Anne-Charlotte, of La Fresnaye1. He took refuge in Paris as a self-proclaimed merchant in 1790, he died there suddenly at the Hotel de Malte in October 18032. His wife had been held as a suspect at Vannes in 1796, and owed her salvation to the devotion of her children. She died at the chateau of Lemo in 1817, having had thirteen children3, among others:

2. Jacques-Marie-Joseph le Douarain de Lemo, born in Lemo on December 3, 1773, page of the King in 1789, colonel in the Catholic and Royal army of Brittany, knight of Saint-Louis, Counselor general of Moribihan, mayor of Augan, who married on October 8, 1798, to his cousin Aglae Desgrées du Lou, deceased in 1802; himself dying at the chateau of La Touraille in Augan, in 1832, having only one daughter: Aglae-Marie-Auguste le Douarain de Lemo, who married in Rennes in 1824 to Charlemagne Mouesan, count of La Villirouet1 (p. 31), and had: the marquise Forunier de Bellevue, my mother, and the count of La Villirouet, lord of the manor of Lemo, father of the viscountess of Baglion de la Dufferie and of the countess Libault de la Chevasnerie;

3. Joseph-Marie le Douarain de Lemo, knight of Malta, deceased at Lemo in 1835;

1 The Le Douarain family, of the former nobility of Brittany, had on its coat of arms: "from azure blue to the ermine stake": originating from the parish of Monterblanc, near Vannes, where they lived during the fourteenth century. Since the fifteenth century, it lived in the lands of Ploermel, where it contracted beautiful alliances and possessed great riches. 2 Following the death of M. le Douarain, the guardianship of his seven children still living (four adults and three minors), was, by the act of November 12, 1803, given to his widow and to a family advisory council composed of Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard (uncle of the children); Jean-Marie-Jacques Desgrées, residing at Vannes, and Jacques-Bertrand-Colomban Desgrées, residing at Lou (their uncles): Jean-Marie le Provost de la Voltais, residing at La Voltais (their cousin) – (Act existing at the archives of Lemo). 3 The municipality of Lemo, with manor, chapel, mills, farms, woods, lake, rights of high justice with a three-pillar gallows, chapel with tombs in the church of Augan, is situated in Augan, at a kilometer to the west of the burg. It belonged at first to a family of Lemo who bore it circa 1430 to Chauczon, called de Lemo, from which it came by alliance in 1609 to the Lezenets and from these here in 1627 to the Kermenos, marquis of Garo, who sold it on July 16, 1667 to the Le Douarains, family of former knightly Breton extraction, allied to the Boisberard 1460, Jouchet 1482, de Quéjau 1501, de l'Escu 1529, du Tertre 1564, Lucas 1565, Picaud 1631, de Derval 1654, and, after the acquisition of Lemo, to the Couessins 1679, Desgrées du Lou 1715 and 1798, de la Fresnaye 1744, Beaugeard 1771, and Mouesan de la Villirouet 1824. It was by this last alliance that Lemo became, in 1872, the property of the countess of La Villirouet, née le Douarain. It currently belongs to his son, the count of La Villirouet. 1 (p. 31) See: "Memoires de la comtesse de la Villirouet, née de Lambilly. Une femme avocat. Épisodes de la Révolution à Lamballe et à Paris" ("Memoirs of the countess of La Villirouet, born De Lambilly. A lady lawyer. Episodes of the Revolution at Lamballe and in Paris.") by the Count of Bellevue. – Paris, Just Poisson, 1902, in 8th of 360 p. with portraits.

17 4. Pierre-Marie-Auguste le Douarain de Lemo, captain in La Chouannerie, deceased in 1839, having had with Louise-Françoise-Delphine de Madroux (who he had married in 1808 and who died in 1854; Mme Gazeau des Boucheries, from whom: Mme Lucas de Bourgerel, lady of the manor of La Villepelotte in Guegon, and Mme le Maignan de Kerangat; and Mme Dieulangard and Levier of whom: Mme du Grandlaunay and Mme le Vexier, mother of Mme Simon of Coueron; 3. Pierre-René-Gilles Beaugeard, baptized at Saint-Malo on March 12, 1754, who seems to have died young.

4. Nicolas-Joseph Beaugeard, squire, secretary of the commandments of the Queen Marie-Antoinette from 1780 to 1790, then of H.R.H. Madame, dutchess of Angoulème, from 1815 to 1817, of whom we have told the life story; baptized at Saint-Malo on April 18, 1755, he became in 1780 secretary of the commandments of the Queen and married Marie-Jeanne-Catherine d'Hugues de Cesselès. After having tried heroically to save the king on January 21, 1793, he removed himself to Bretagne at the home of his sisters; was named in 1815 secretary of the commandments of the dutchess of Angoulème; and died in Paris in January 1818, having only one daughter: Aglaé-Marie Beaugeard, born in Paris in 1782, deceased single at the chateau of La Voltais in September 1818;

5. Gillette-Claudine Beaugeard, baptized in St. Malo on 12 February 1757, died at a young age.

6. Marguerite-Nicole-Guillemette Beaugeard, baptized at Dinan in 1758, who married in Saint-Malo, by contract of September 3, 1773, Joseph-François-Marie le Provost de la Voltais, lord of the manor of La Voltais1 in Monteneuf, baptized at Ploermel on March 14, 1745, eldest son of Joseph-Mathurin, knight, lord of La Voltais, of Couespian, and of Michelle-Françoise Labbé, dame of Poulfanc. He died at Rennes, Rue de l'Union, on February 20, 1801; his widow died at La Voltais on October 1817. They had twelve children of whom only three left descendants:

1. Joseph-Marie-Mathurin le Provost de la Votlais, officer in the royal army of Brittany who became lord of the manor of the Tousches in Guer by his marriage in 1808 to Jeanne-Perrine de la Touche Limouzinière, deceased January 20, 1856. He only had two daughters: 1.) Joséphine-Marie-Louise, dame of Les Touches and of Couesplan, who married Paul-Alexis de

1 The family Le Provost originated in Gael and took its name from the charge of of Prévot féodé de Gael (?- GRC) occupied by its first members. The family allied itself (along with others) to the De Léon family circa 1280; de Kergorlay, 1330; de la Houssaye, in 1375; du Breil in 1435; de la Monneraye circa 1470; Picault 1495; de Botherel d'Apigné 1621; Boschier 1635; Lambart 1685; Thierry 1712; Labbé 1741; its coat of arms: "of silver to two (or three) sand-colored bands." The lordship of La Voltais, with manor, private chapel, farms, and jurisdiction, is situated in Monteneuf, between this burg and that of Guer. The chateau, built at the end of the fourteenth century by one named Voltaye, was reconstructed circa 1725 by the Le Provost. It belonged at the beginning of the 15th century to the L'Escoubles, then to the Jocets and the the Du Bots, who sold it in 1454 to the Robelots, from whom it came in 1653 to the Kermadios. Then, in 1675, to the Porcaros who would cede it to the Lauzannes in 1684, who sold it in 1721 to the Le Provosts, since called de la Voltais, and to whom it still belongs today.

18 Bellouan d'Avaugour; they died at the chateau of Les Tousches in Guer, she in 1870, he in 1876, only having one daughter, Anne-Marie de Bellouan d'Avagour, lady of the manor of Les Tousches, who married in 1866 to Jean-Prosper, count of L'Estourbeillon, Counselor General of the canton of Guer, deceased in Les Tousches in 1901, leaving two sons, one married to Mlle de Kersauson of Penendref, the other to Mlle de Beugny d'Hagerue, and two daughters, the one nun at the Retraite of Nantes, the other wife of M. Dehné; 2.) Henriette le Provost de la Voltais, died a nun at the Retraite de Vannes; 2. Marie-Ange le Provost de la Voltais, who married circa 1815 Jean-Louis- Anger de Kernisan, lord of the manor of Pébusson, in Guer, and had as a grandson Joseph-Anger de Kernisan, who married in 1902 to Charlotte de Castel; 3. Ferdinand-Marie-André le Provost, count of la Voltais, captain of Infantry, knight of Saint-Louis, of the Legion of Honor and of Saint- Ferdinand of Spain, born at La Voltais on May 26, 1791, who married on January 9, 1827 to Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte du Bot; He died at Rennes on June 10, 1871, and his widow died at Monteneuf on May 31, 1882. They had:

1. Ferdinand-Paul-Marie-Joseph, who followed; 2. Marie-Jeanne-Augustine le Provost de la Voltais, born November 15, 1830, who married at La Voltais on July 30, 1851, Charles-Marie, count of Forges, lord of the manor of Plessis-Rivault in Allaire, where she died November 19, 1864, having had: Paul, viscount of Forges, mayor of Allaire, born 1852, who married at Rennes in 1879 to Berthe-Caroline-Marie le Mordan de la Villecochard. He died at Cannes on February 28, 1891, having had a son, Paul, viscount of Forges, born circa 1885; his widow remarried in 1900 to his cousin, M. le Mordan de Langourian;

Ferdinand-Paul-Marie-Joseph le Provost, count of La Voltais, born at La Voltais October 2, 1827, married at the chateau of Guillier in Plédéliac on October 10, 1859, Clotilde- Marie-Zoé Brunet du Guillier. They died at the Chateau of La Voltais, he on May 1, 1885, she on May 29, 1897, having had three children:

1. Gabrielle-Marie-Anne le Provost de la Voltais, born in the chateau of Quéjau in Campénéac in 1862, who married at La Voltais on December 22, 1885 to Ernest-Louis- François-Paul-Robert Frandon, consul at Fou-Théou, parent of three daughters; 2. Berthe-Marie-Clotilde le Provost de la Voltais, born at Quéjau in 1867, who married at La Voltais, in 1890, René-

19 Marie Jéhannot de Penquer, lord of themanor of Boisdenast (1)in Maure, counselor of the arrondissement, and parent of a son and two daughters: 3. Raoul-Théodore-Ferdinand le Provost, count of la Voltais and lord of the manor of La Voltais, born at Quéjeau on May 30, 1871, who married at the chateau of Clio in Quessoy (Côtes-du-Nord) on April 4, 1894, Paule-Anne- Marie-Joseph du Pontavice du Vaugarny, born at the chateau of Clio on September 14, 1872, daugher of Hippolyte and of Pauline du Breil de Ponbriand, who had six children, born at the chateau of La Voltais from 1895 to 1903.

X. CTE. de BELLEVUE. Rennes, January 21, 1904.

(1) (Handwritten footnote) Lord of the manor of Bois-Bossel at Maure, chateau belonged in 1992 to the Penquer. (Family name? Misread? – GRC)